Write Annual Marketing Plan in 90 Minutes

Ideally, marketing planning is like career or job planning. The development of the annual marketing strategy, whether it is for an internet/ecommerce business or offline business, should be done at the end of the year. It should be based on market research. This applies to small as well as corporate businesses and not for profit organizations.

How To Write An Annual Marketing Plan

This guide to an annual marketing plan shows what needs to be done, how to do it and pitfalls to look out for. This marketing plan should ideally support and complement business plan.

An annual marketing plan ideally should have the following elements (basics of marketing):

Mission statement

Description of your niche markets

Detailed description of your products or services

List of your closest competitors

Marketing goals

Marketing calendar with monthly and weekly list of marketing activities to be completed

Description of how the marketing campaigns will be monitored and measured

When you have finished doing everything suggested in this easy How-To marketing tutorial, you will have a blueprint of your marketing efforts. It will give you a lot of clarity, especially when you are working in a team. Make sure you revisit the plan every year, as well as during the year.

Now, whether you are selling watches or digital products, it is important to watch your spend to make sure that your marketing ROI (return on investment) is on track.

But Why Should You Plan?

It gives you a lot of clarity of purpose

You can control your expenses

When you are working in a team, or with external agencies or suppliers, you everyone involved knows who-does-what

You can take corrective action if the marketing plan is not progressing as desired

Are You Ready To Begin?

Just answer the following questions, and you will have the blueprint of your marketing plan in less than 90 minutes:

Which of my marketing and selling activities brought the most business for me last year? Was it public relations, events and conferences, social media, print advertising, Google Adwords, SEO marketing and so on

What mistakes did I make that I should avoid this year?

What worked well, but I can improve on this year?

What can I learn from my successful campaigns last year?

What can I learn from my campaign that did not perform well last year?